Our next major target should be a young/long/athletic big forward? Who do you want?

Hard to talk sense into ATW

 

Let's just see what Garuba brings to the table before we fire up the trade machine. My suspicion is that he will look like he belongs in the frontcourt.

 

ATW...

Isaac is still a huge asset. They would trade him for a star maybe, but no way would they trade him for a bad contract and two bench players. Come on.

 

This team has a lot of young players to sign to extensions in a few years, so we shouldn't be taking on any long-term salary until we see how that plays out.

and I don't think we'll be picking in the top 5 again. so in my opinion we should be looking for a glue guy type of wing with our mid-late first round picks.

or KJ will become that guy.

 

It’s easier to say what record the rockets will have. In my opinion they could easily have a bottom 5 record still next season.

 

I think Wood is the only player on our roster that the Warriors would actually consider, and I do think he moves the needle for them. Not sure if the Warriors FO would agree, but a starting lineup of Curry / Thompson / Wiggins / Green / Wood is pretty scary, offensively. Defensively, they've relied a lot on Looney in recent years, as he's a versatile defender who can both bang in the post and switch & guard on the wings, and moving Wood into the starting line-up in his place would hurt them in that regard. Compared to their other trade options, Siakam & Simmons both offer more defensively than Wood does, but Wood provides a bigger boost offensively.

Wood clearly views himself as a number 1 or number 2 option, so I'm curious how he'd feel about playing behind Curry and Thompson in the offensive pecking order. He'd have to do less, which could leave him more energy for the defensive end. I'm hopeful he'll develop into an average defender either way. But he'd be a fantastic floor-stretching big for them, and I think he'd do really well in the Dubs' motion offense. His catch & shoot percentages are good for a guy his size, and he'd get a ton of open looks in that system. Going there would give him a better chance of winning now than staying here, but his stats would surely take a hit. He's angling for his next contract to be a max one, and he may feel that putting up numbers and playing a more prominent role here would be a better route to obtaining that.

If the Warriors came calling with a package of Kuminga and Wiseman (or more likely, players & picks acquired by trading Wiseman to a third team), I'm sure Raf would take that call. He'd have to be in love with the potential of whatever's coming back in return for Wood, as that would be the clearest indicator that we're full-on tanking. While the chances of us overperforming and getting within striking distance of a play-in spot next season are slim, our roster does have a lot of talent, and I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. Most crucially though, I just don't think the Warriors would be willing to totally mortgage the future / cash in all of their trade capital on a guy who's had half a season of all-star level play (not to mention a rough ankle injury), and it would take both of their young studs to pry Wood away from us, I believe.

I don't think any of this is very likely, but it's lightyears more likely than getting any of the Warriors' young players for Gordon or House or Augustine, haha.

 

I think Bol Bol will be a low risk high reward guy. Like KPJ but in the way that you just explained. I would hire Hakeem to teach him the sauce though.

 

Personally I want to develop KJ as the starting SF with Garuba at PF

KP
Green
KJ
Garuba
Wood/Sengun

KJ and Garuba would be switchable wings. (Ariza and Luc)

Sengun’s passing alone would make this line up ridiculous lol. High energy, Tons of movement, hustle plays, back door lobs, 3s and fast breaks.

 

Great thought. I feel similarly in that Wood here is just stat padding for a contract and with the youth movement in place I think that sending him off to allow Sengun and Garuba to develop as your future bigs makes alot of sense. Especially next year when you dont have high hopes and if the experiment fails and you've seen enough you fall into a draft where the big men are going to be abundant and the top of that draft offers true foundational pieces for someone's frontcourt. I'd think about including JTate or even KMJ as much as it hurts me because if Kuminga comes back in trade you need to give him minutes with this nucleus and see if he fits and I would even think about shipping Wiggins to a 3rd team in this type of deal for the same reasons.

Houston/GS seem to make good trade partners. I'd be fine with Kuminga and Wiggins as a return for Wood.

edit: OOOOF just looked at Wiggins contract - thats gonna be a tough one.
edit 2: Gordon and Wood would make the numbers match

 

I think the Rockets will end up with a 5-10 pick in the next draft. I agree with OP that another talented kid with length would seem to be a good way to go (so long as KPJ looks to have made progress in his transition to point guard). I could easily see a scenario where the Rockets go with a 4 signaling Wood's time coming to an end in Houston (if they selected Banchero, Holmgren, Nzosa, Duren, or Jabari Smith). I could also see the Rockets picking with a quality wing on the board who could supplant either Tate or Martin (Griffin, Baldwin, Houstan or Watson). Regardless, given how much of a homerun Stone hit in this draft I think the Rockets will need to prioritize cap space to re-sign these guys. My original thought was build a talent base throught he draft and then go after a max free agent. But IF, BIG IF, Green, Sengun, Christopher and Garuba are what they appear to be then those guys (in addition to upcoming first rounders) need to be locked up.

I just dont think the Rockets' luck can be overstated to have bottomed out in years where there is premium talent available in the draft. Next year looks loaded as well at the top (although maybe not as deep as this year seemed to me). To get a core of 3-5 studs in two drafts makes all the difference in a rebuild. I realize that I am counting my chickens before they have hatched but everything looks like these kids are going to become dynamic NBA players.

 

they could, yes. but to me it seems more likely that we will be in the 30-35 win range (barring any serious injuries to key players) which would give the Rockets somewhere between pick 8 - 15.

i do think i'm more optimistic than most regarding how good this team will be next year, though. we're a talented, deep team with great chemistry, but on the other hand we are a very young team.

 

We probably need to clarify what you mean when you say big forward. This could either be an athletic Big that plays 4/5 that can maybe switch on to smalls from time to time. Or a bigger Wing that can play the 4 and even some small ball 5.

It's incredibly hard to find a big wing (lanky 6'8+ or strong 6'6+) with talent. I think we should definitely look to draft someone like this next year. The only difficulty is that since they're in such demand they tend to get drafted so high that you could waste a 1st Rd pick on a project that doesn't develop. It's a position we'll need going forward though since Green is more of a traditional SG with a wirey frame. He's not really built to matchup with the Kawhi/KD types at SF.

I don't know that we should be too concerned with an athletic forward to primarily play the 'Big' position though. We have Wood/Theis that can play the 4 now and Garuba/KJ as younger guys.

 

Why not try to trade EGO, and a pick or two and get one now?

DD

 

Banchero def.

1 more season of tank commander should do it.

If we dont get no 1 use the lotto pick+ all the nets assets to trade for Banchero. Banchero is basically Cade but legitmately 6'8 instead of 6'6.

Sengod
Garuba
Banchero
Green
KpJ

 

Because EGo and a pick wont get you anybody great

 

EGo, and a couple of picks, or EGO and House....and a pick....or...well you get my point.

DD

 

Nobody wants Eric right now. If that were so, he would have already been moved.

 

Buy low on Deni Avdija?

 

I think Holmgren next year would be ideal. After that I think you are moving past the rebuild stage into the developing the talent into a championship contender by adding supporting players. If some of the players don't pan out in the next couple years, the following draft has a couple of players in Emoni or Victor that would also fit that role. I am looking at the KD type player to fill that final spot.